Travelling cases



Sept. 13, 1955 B. A. ARNOLD ETAL 2,717,671

TRAVELLING CASES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 1, 1952 11v VEN TOR.

Bare] Arnold BY Emil K Benz ZMW Sept- 1955 B. A. ARNOLD ETAL 2,717,671

TRAVELLING CASES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 1, 1952 INVENTOR.

Bere AjIrnold BY Emil K Razz United States Patent TRAVELLING CASES Berel A. Arnold, Waban, and Emil K. Renz, Dedham, Mass., assignors to Knight Leather Products, 111C. Boston, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application October 1, 1952, Serial No. 312,502 Claims. (Cl. 190-41) The present invention relates to a travelling bag or suit case which unfolds along a center plane to divide the case in two parts.

In the type of case of the present invention, the case opens so that the large side walls are practically in the same plane and there is no intermediate partition for each portion of the case. This is usually accomplished by providing one end of the case, usually. the top or bottom end with a unitary piece or wall and having halves hinged or unfolded along the side edges of this wall. In such a construction a Zipper or interlocking slide fastener arrangement has been commonly used, with the results that, (1) it is difiicult to close the fastener and to open it. (2) The closure along the line on which the slide fastener is moved does not fit perfectly, or, (3) it is not possible to completely open the case so that the edge walls are perfectly free and flexible.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the difficulties set forth above. A further object of the present invention is to provide along the beginning of the slide fasteners, a free or flexible member carrying the beginning end of the fasteners so that the fasteners may be free to be hinged upwards or downwards to the plane of the large side walls when opened in order to permit the fasteners to be readily closed. These beginning ends of the slide fasteners are preferably attached to a transverse strap or tying member which goes across the case on the inside opposite the unitary or integral wall which forms either the top end or the bottom end of the case. The tie strap also aids in packing and holding clothes and other things which are packed in the suit case.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be more readily understood from the description set forth in the specification below when taken together with the drawings forming a part of the specification, in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective of the travelling bag of the present invention in a closed position.

Figure 2 shows the travelling bag opened up looking at the inside.

Figure 3 shows a fragmentary perspective with parts in section of a detail of the present invention.

Figure 4 shows a perspective sectional view taken transversely through the center of the top end of the bag.

Figure 5 shows a section of a detail taken on the line 55 of Figure 2.

In the figures the bag may be divided into two equal halves or one part may have larger top, bottom and end walls than the other.

As indicated in Figures 1 and 2 the bag comprises two side walls 1 and 2, which normally are parallel to each other or substantially parallel to each other except when the bag is opened, an end wall 3 which is the top end of the bag to which a handle 30 is attached, end walls 7, 7' and 8, 8 which adjoin the top wall 3 and the bottom wall 9, 9' which adjoin the end walls Z ,717 ,6 71 Patented Sept. 13, 1955 to each end 7, 7' and 8, 8. Each of the walls, other than the side walls 1 and 2, and top wall 3 comprises two portions and the case is opened along the lines 31 and 32. The top wall 3 to which the handle preferably is attached is shown in section in Figure 4. This comprises an outer cover member 4 which may be ccextensive and integral with the outer cover of the sides 1 and 2. Lying over the outer covering element 4 is a stiff semi-flexible or rigid board element 5, which may be of cardboard, leather, plastic or some composition material. Over this board element 5 is a covering sheet or strip of fabric plastic or other suitable material 6, which is stitched down to the covering element 4 along the sides by the stitching lines A and B shown in Figure 2.

The wall elements 7, 7, 9, 9, and 8, 8' are made up of an outer strip of flexible leather, plastic, textile or other composition material 12 and 12' and preferably each portion has its outer wall of a single integral strip which along one long side is joined to the periphery of the side walls 1 and 2, respectively. The ends of these long strips are indirectly joined to the ends of the top wall 3 in a manner which will be described below.

The long strips are sewed to the side walls with covering tape 11 which folds over the peripheral margin of the long strip and the peripheral margin of the side walls and through which a continuous line of stitching is made around the whole periphery of the large side walls. This covering tape or binding as will be seen in Figures 1 and 2, extends across the short end of the top wall 3. On the inner face of the walls 7, 7', 9, 9' and 8, 8, there is a stiffening board 33, 33, Figures 2 and 5, of leather, cardboard, fiberboard, composition material or the like which is attached by rivets 34 or other suitable means, to the strips 7, 7', 9, 9' and 8, 8. These fiberboards, it will be noted from Figure 2, end at points short of the top wall 3 and do not extend across the top wall. The binding tape 11 which extends across the ends of the top wall and stitches together the outer cover 4 and the inner cover 6 of the top wall also stitches together with the elements 4 and 6 a strip 35 which forms the back of the cross strap 22 which will be more fully described later. This cross piece 35 has its ends tapered outwards towards the edge where it is bound by the binding tape 11. The tapering sides of the strip 35 adjacent the binding edge 11 are stitched in face to face relationship with the ends of the outer face strips 12 and 12' respectively, at opposite ends of the top 3. These ends of the face strip 12 and 12 are cut diagonally across the strips and are bound by a binding tape 13 which covers the edges of the face strips 12 and 12 and the cross strip 35 and are stitched together by through stitching 14.

A small portion of the face strips 12 and 12 at the ends of the general diagonal section as indicated at 15 (Figure 4) is stitched to the top cover 16 by stitching 17, which strip or cover 16 and bottom cover or strip 31 form part of the cross strap arrangement 36. The binding tape 13 at the ends may be stitched together with the binding tape 11 as indicated in'Figure 4.

A complete slide fastener stringer 18 extends all around the edge of the outer face strip 12 and a complementary face strip or stringer 12 around the edge of the outer face strip 12 completing the walls '7, 8 and 9, and 7', 8 and 9'. Fastener closures 20 and 21 are positioned on each side of the case and when the case is opened these closure elements are as shown in Figure 2.

The strap arrangement 36 is made up of two elements 22 and 23, one extending from each end of the inside top wall 3 of the case. These straps may be snapped together by a plurality of complementary snap fasteners 24, equally spaced so that the strap may be extended to give more lee-way for clothes held beneath.

In the use of the suitcase, the center straps 22 and 23 may be raised or lowered to permit the closure fasteners 20 and 21 to be readily operated without binding. Further, the cross straps may be snapped together either before or after the closing has been started since the ends of these straps are freely hinged by gussets formed at the end of the cross straps 22 and 23 by the element 35.

In the decription above, only one top end of the case has been described, since both sides are alike and what applies to one applies also to the other.

Having now described our invention, We claim:

1. A suit case of the type described having side Walls, an end wall hingedly connected along its side edges to the side walls and walls adjoining the side Walls forming the other three Walls of the suit case, said other three walls comprising a portion joined to one of the side Walls and a portion joined to the other side wall, complementary interlocking closure strips, one attached around the unattached peripheral edge of one of said portions and the other around the unattached peripheral edge of the other of said portions, and flexible gusset elements positioned at the ends of said end Wall, said gusset elements having their sides joined to the ends of each portion, respectively, wherein said complementary interlocking closure strips come together and are attached to said gusset elements.

2. A suit case of the type described having side walls, an end Wall hingedly connected along its side edges to the side walls and walls adjoining the side walls forming the other three walls of the suit case, said other three walls comprising a portion joined to one of the side walls and a portion joined to the other side wall, cross strap members attached at the inside ends of the end Wall, complementary interlocking closure strips having their ends attached to said cross strap members adjacent the attachment of the strap members to the end wall, and the rest of the strips attached along said portions joined to the side walls, and closure fastening elements in the open position of said case positioned at the ends of the interlocking closure strips on said cross strap members.

3. A suit case of the type described having side walls, an end wall hingedly connected along its side edges to the side Walls and Walls adjoining the side Walls forming the other three walls of the suit case, said other three walls comprising a portion joined to one of the side Walls and a portion joined to the other side wall, forming three narrow walls which open substantially in a plane midway between the side walls, gusset members joined along one side to the ends of said end wall and along adjacent sides to the ends of said portions joined to the side Walls, and complementary interlocking closure strips attached along the edges of said portions and to said gusset members for closing said case.

4. A suitcase of the type described having side walls, an end wall hingedly connected along its side edges to the side walls and Walls adjoining the side walls forming the other three walls of the suit case, said other three walls having an outer surface formed with continuous long strips having one long edge stitched around the periphery of the side walls, respectively, gusset members joined along one side to the ends of said end wall and along adjacent sides to the ends of said long strips, and complementary interlocking closure strips attached along the other long edges of said strips and to said gusset members for closing said case.

5. A suitcase of the type described having side Walls, an end wall hingedly connected along its side edges to the side walls and Walls adjoining the side walls forming the other three walls of the suit case, said other three walls having an outer surface formed with continuous long strips having one long edge stitched around the periphery of the side walls, respectively, gusset members joined along one side to the ends of said end wall and along adjacent sides to the ends of said long strips, cross strap members extending across said case on the inside of said end Wall attached at one end to said gussets, and complementary interlocking closure strips attached along the other long edges of said strips and to said gusset members for closing said case.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,730,058 Butterick Oct. 1, 1929 1,859,052 Ritter May 17, 1932 2,107,180 Gihon Feb. 1, 1938 2,350,606 Gold June 6, 1944 

